‘Chuck’ – ‘Chuck vs. the Baby’: The mother and child reunion

A review of tonight’s “Chuck” coming up just as soon as we actively waste our babysitter…

“I’m not alone.” -Sarah

Fan response to last season’s “Chuck vs. Phase Three” was so strong that another Sarah-centric episode was inevitable in the final season. Yvonne Strahovski hadn’t had a whole lot to do in this final season, but the show finally made up for that with the terrific “Chuck vs. the Baby.” Sarah got to righteously kick some ass again, we got a few more pieces of her origin story, and her larger journey of the series seemed to reach the finish line in the same way Chuck’s did last week.

Early in “Baby,” Morgan reminds Chuck that virtually any time he’s had a disagreement with Sarah on something, Sarah has been right. Well, in this case, she’s not. She’s too accustomed to flying solo, even after all these years as part of Operation Bartowski, and in many ways the climax to this episode isn’t Sarah killing her old handler and reuniting with her mom and adopted sister, but Sarah simply acknowledging that she should have looped Chuck and Casey in sooner. Everything after is just confirmation of how Sarah has gone from being a loner to a person with roots, and friends and family who have her back whether she needs someone to punch out a few goons or someone to babysit little Molly. It’s such a 180 from the person she was when she walked into the Buy More in the pilot that I didn’t even mind the show again revisiting (as we did at the end of season 3’s “Chuck vs. the Nacho Sampler”) the time right before she had to go out to Burbank.(*) That’s who Sarah was then, and this is who she is now, and she’s much happier – and yet still capable of kicking ass, taking names and doing all the things that made her a spy in the first place.

(*) Though the chronology of Sarah’s career, as always, is iffy. She tells Graham that she’s done with handlers, but what happened to her time as Bryce Larkin’s partner? Given the events of the pilot, if Graham is about to send Sarah off to find Chuck, shouldn’t they be spending most of that scene discussing how Bryce went rogue and got killed for his trouble?

The one thing I wonder is the same thing I talked about in last week’s review, which is that we have five episodes to go and it feels like everything has wrapped up fairly neatly. Chuck took out Shaw and proved once and for all that he doesn’t need the Intersect. Sarah has accepted that she can lean on her loved ones in times of need. Alex is taking Morgan back. Chuck and Sarah have decided to stay civilians (though we’ll see whether Casey chooses to stick with them). Jeff’s brain damage has been magically cured. Everyone got their happy ending here. Should I be worrying that these final five episodes are going to undo some or all of the recent bliss? That doesn’t seem very “Chuck,” does it?(**)

(**) As always, I watched this episode with my wife, and when she started worrying about the baby in one early scene, I told her, “This is ‘Chuck.’ Everything will turn out okay,” and she nodded and agreed.

But as for “Chuck vs. the Baby” itself, it was another great hour on the heels of “Santa Suit.” Sarah got to kick ass to an absurd degree in both the past (with lots of action movie flips and two-gun engagements, along with a little homage to “Shoot ‘Em Up” when she began blasting away at the bad guys with the baby strapped to her chest) and the present (where the kitchen fight with Ryker was among the more brutal Sarah’s ever been involved in). But Strahovski also got to show off the vulnerability that’s always made the character into more than just the Giant Blonde She-Male of Thailand. Lots of good work from her here, whether nervously trying to soothe the baby in the past or being overwhelmed with joy at seeing her mom after never expecting to for the rest of her life. In fact, that entire sequence at Chuck and Sarah’s apartment was as infectiously happy as any I can think of in the show’s run. “Chuck” can do a lot of things well, but like another of my favorite shows, “Parks and Recreation,” maybe its most powerful weapon is the ability to put an enormous smile on my face.

We’ll see what Fedak and company have planned for these final five hours, but if it’s going to be an extended victory lap, these two most recent episodes suggest that could be a lot of fun.

Some other thoughts:

* So Chuck is still struggling to scrape together the money to buy their dream house? What happened to the last remnants of the Volkoff fortune? Shouldn’t they have gotten that back once Decker died, and/or when that whole conspiracy was shut down? Or is Beckman taking a “finders keepers” policy on all of this? Either way, that “signing bonus” better have been really big.

* Chuck’s newfound fighting skills weren’t just a one-time thing for the Christmas episode, as he both tackles the runaway waiter and helps Casey take out Ryker’s henchmen. But I appreciated the gag on the sidewalk where he boasts about not needing the Intersect right before the Intersect’s language skills would come in really handy.

* Glad to see that Ellie and Awesome’s spy role playing has continued, but even though the Castle is now property of Carmichael Industries and not the CIA, it still seems weird that Morgan would be hosting a double date there with them and Alex. Will they eventually turn one of the cells into a playroom for Clara?

* This week in “Chuck” music: “The Black Block (Original Mix)” by Modeselektor (Sarah kills a whole lot of dudes on her way to rescuing the baby), “Clowin’ Around” by Deer Tick (Ellie & Awesome try to convince Alex to take Morgan back, and then Sarah waking up in the apartment and telling Chuck the truth); “Life, Oh Life” by Dads (Sarah gives the baby to her mother, and then Sarah reunites with her mom and Molly at the apartment) and “We Are Young” by Fun., featuring Janelle Monae (everyone celebrates at the apartment and Sarah’s mom thanks Chuck for giving her a good life).

* This week in “Chuck” guest stars: Cheryl Ladd is a very appropriate choice to play Sarah’s mom, as she was one of the longest-tenured stars of the original “Charlie’s Angels,” arriving in the second season to replace Farrah Fawcett. As Ryker, Tim DeKay comes with his own “Chuck” connection, as he’s currently co-starring with Matthew Bomer on USA’s “White Collar.”

* This week in “Chuck” plot holes: why would Sarah fall for the tape recording gimmick, given that A)The baby wouldn’t be a baby anymore, and B)She pulled the exact same stunt on Ryker when the baby was actually a baby?

* This week in “Chuck” typos: The LED display on the gizmo in Molly’s room says “RECIEVING COORDINATES.”

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The “baby on tape” moment was among one of the dumbest they’ve ever done. That said, I have no idea who’s been doing the fight choreography this season (has it been the guy who won the Emmy throughout?) but Strahovski’s work was great as always and I’m really impressed by how good Levi has gotten as well.

Always happy to see Tim DeKay in anything, and I thought he was good here.

Great Sarah/Chuck chemistry in this. No silliness, no stupidity, just stuff that made sense. And I’m happy to see any spotlight on Josh Gomez, period.

If the quality level stays here or gets better, then we’re going to have a great series finish.

By: Andrei

01.01.2012 @ 7:07 AM

I thought that too at first, then realized that it was actually a clever move on Ryker’s part – first you hear the baby, then you get confused thinking “why would a 5-year old cry like that?”. Meanwhie, you’re too distracted to see the goon behind you with the club – POW!!

At least, that’s how I’m choosing to look at it…

By: Jonny

12.31.2011 @ 2:10 AM

Sarah beaten up again and looking lovely again. The camera work made me feel like I was watching a Bourne movie too.

By: Build A Better Fan

12.31.2011 @ 2:11 AM

That scene with Graham makes negative sense. In the pilot, Graham tells her that Chuck isn’t a good guy because good guys don’t steal secrets (IIRC). She’s not so sure. Only after it’s revealed that Chuck has the Intersect in his head do they get around to the idea of having to be his handlers.

By: Lev

12.31.2011 @ 6:10 AM

Yeah, it would not have taken much to make it work with the history. Just have Graham allude to the “Bryce” business and that she has to go to Burbank. Everyone watching would no that is road to Chuck. I hate it when a show just can’t bother to make it work when it can work.

By: Charrob58

12.31.2011 @ 2:12 AM

Great episode. But I wondered why Sarah’s mom would call her Sarah instead of her real name, Sam.

By: pamelajaye

12.31.2011 @ 2:17 AM

thank you!

By: Jay Jay

12.31.2011 @ 2:35 AM

If you listen when Sarah’s mom introduces Sarah to her “sister,” she is hesitant to say Sarah as she knows her by her real name, but is not used to actually calling Sarah “Sarah”

By: Hwat

12.31.2011 @ 5:45 AM

Sam can’t be her real name, its too stupid. She must have been lying when she claimed it was!

By: Stan

12.31.2011 @ 2:13 AM

It seems odd that Sarah’s mom would call her Sarah if her real name is Sam, but maybe the creators just abandoned that plot point from the Shaw season.

Also, as much fun as it is to see Sarah kick butt and be heavily featured, I could do without Yvonne getting kicked and punched as much. Just too pretty to take that many hits to the face.

By: Bekah

12.31.2011 @ 2:13 AM

So is the kid Sarah’s? I’m still kind of confused

By: daveminnj

12.31.2011 @ 2:28 AM

no, no, no. she’s the orphaned child of the family
that was killed by the tableful of thugs that she killed.

By: Pug

12.31.2011 @ 2:15 AM

Love Yvonne S. and love Sarah centric episodes but I was a little let down by tonight’s episode. I think the main thing that bothered me was that there wasn’t one part of that story that Sarah couldn’t have told Chuck. Her excuse of “not wanting to put anyone else in danger” wasn’t a very good one. I wasn’t expecting the ‘baby reveal’ to be some huge revelation but this was a pretty big disappointment. Plus, this happened two weeks after Sarah got mad at Chuck for not trusting her when it came to rescuing Ellie and Awesome.

By: Diane

12.31.2011 @ 2:23 AM

I was disappointed, too. I totally agree that she should have told Chuck from the start. There was no reason that she shouldn’t have other than to keep artificial tension in the episode. I also didn’t understand why Shaw would know about the baby or how Sarah’s ex-handler would know where to find Sarah’s mother.

By: pamelajaye

12.31.2011 @ 2:16 AM

What is Sarah’s NAME????

By: valoi

12.31.2011 @ 3:30 AM

sam is her name

By: Jake Collin

12.31.2011 @ 2:25 AM

Outside of a few plot screw-ups (the meeting with Graham that you mentioned being the major one, and what happened to the money that Decker froze?) and Sarah falling for the crying baby bit, I liked “Baby” a hell of a lot more than “Santa Suit”.

Glad Chuck called out Sarah for being stupid. Glad that Sarah is turning down Beckman’s offer to re-join the CIA. Glad they had Sarah actually kill someone.

Tim DeKay was great as the villian, but the whole talk about handlers was annoying. Full blown field operatives, like Sarah was in Budapest, don’t have handlers. Annoying that Fedak won’t do that minimal research.

Strahovski knocked this episode out of the park. She has done some good work on some episodes that has really written Sarah poorly, so it’s good to see her be able to show how good she is when the character is written well.

By: klg19

12.31.2011 @ 2:29 AM

A really good hour, and i have to say the room got very, very dusty at the mother and child reunion.

I’ve chosen to ignore the weirdness of Sarah falling for the crying baby recording (maybe her maternal cluelessness extends to what a crying 5-year-old sounds like??) and I’ve also decided that Sarah told her Mom her name was Sarah back when she dropped off Molly. Because thinking too much on those two glaring oddities will only detract from how lovely this episode was.

By: Scott

12.31.2011 @ 2:34 AM

Anyone else notice that they got through the entire episode without mentioning the name of Sarah’s mom, or revealing Sarah’s full real name?

By: ARF

12.31.2011 @ 2:48 AM

Did anybody else notice the fight scene Sarah had in the beginning was shot like the one the late Brandon Lee did in ‘The Crow’? Seriously, no mention of that?

By: CoolHand719

12.31.2011 @ 2:54 AM

You beat me to it!

By: CoolHand719

12.31.2011 @ 2:53 AM

Besides the homage to Shoot Em Up, it totally felt like the table scene at the beginning was an homage to The Crow, even down to some of Yvonne’s motions being the same as Brandon Lee.

By: Anthony Foglia

12.31.2011 @ 3:10 AM

The plot hole of the week is something much bigger than the tape recorded baby noise–Sarah could have paused if there was another baby in there that she didn’t want to leave like the package was–it’s how the heck did Ryker know where Sarah’s mom was? The mom we had just seen Sarah say was unknown to even the CIA, the mom Sarah had not talked to in five years, must have just popped into Ryker’s rolodex, given how fast he got there.

By: Diane

12.31.2011 @ 3:47 AM

I mentioned that above as well. It really was not explained.

By: maria

01.01.2012 @ 4:29 AM

The only explanation I could come up with is that she included way too many details in her conversation with Chuck, while she was bugged.

By: Ray

01.03.2012 @ 3:56 PM

What I thought was worse was that they went from Hungary to Burbank and somehow Ryker stays in range to listen to the bug.

By: Pamela

12.31.2011 @ 3:25 AM

Enjoyed Tim DeKay’s as Ryker. Great performance as usual. Looking forward to seeing him in the return of White Collar!

By: MrVickiVale

12.31.2011 @ 3:26 AM

To be fair to Sarah, the baby wasn’t in danger…until she mentioned her to Chuck. So maybe she was justified in keeping her secret?

I really enjoyed this episode. When the final season started, I was kind of hoping they would not get too bogged down in plot and instead coast in with, as Alan calls it, a victory lap. I hope the final five episodes continue along this path.

By: Lisa

12.31.2011 @ 4:11 AM

I wonder if the final five episodes will involve the reveal of another working Intersect and Chuck coming to the decision that he has to take it on again. It would bring everything full circle, only this time, everyone important to Chuck would know about the Intersect. Because right now, it’s looking like the show isn’t so much wrapping up, as… I hate to say “petering out,” but they’ve ended seemingly every episode with the friends-and-family gathering under a warm, flattering lighting scheme. Which I love, but I can’t help wanting something a little meatier to end the series. [/full-on crazy mode]

By: Peter

12.31.2011 @ 4:30 AM

Sorry if this was brought up but wasn’t there hints of Sarah having a sister in Season 1? Not sure if the name Molly ever came up though.

By: Audrey

12.31.2011 @ 5:00 AM

Yea, in season one Sarah mentioned a sister while playing a board game, but it wasn’t clear to anyone whether it was just a cover story.

By: Juan

12.31.2011 @ 5:21 AM

Sarah did tell Chuck’s family that she and her sister got sunburned as children. Don’t know if that was just supposed to be a lie or bad continuity or if we’ll meet her finally (doubtful)

By: Lev

12.31.2011 @ 6:13 AM

Its pretty apparent that that sister was just a cover story. Very early in the series, so why not lie before she was truly invested in Chuck.

By: Scott Rosenberg

01.02.2012 @ 7:27 PM

Sarah could have an adult sister, entirely aside from Molly, who just had no bearing on the episode. If the other real sister stayed with Mom when Sarah chose to go on the road with dad, it’s possible they aren’t close. Could have been a cover story, too, but it has nothing to do with Molly.

By: ARF

12.31.2011 @ 4:47 AM

So, eh, no one acknowledged Sarah’s fight scene with those gangsters at the table to be a nod to the late Brandon Lee’s table fight scene in ‘The Crow’? Seriously? No one picked up on that?

By: albatross

12.31.2011 @ 4:59 AM

Not relevant to the episode, but I never fail to laugh out loud whenever I read “Giant Blonde She-Male of Thailand.”

By: steve

12.31.2011 @ 5:19 AM

There’s always been a lot of (relatively minor) plot holes or inconsistencies with Chuck, but I’ve never thought it was a Lost-type production that felt it had to be 100% accurate.

To me, it’s always been a fun and light-hearted hour of action and comedy with occasional drama. Maybe I haven’t focused on the drama because as Alan said, it’s Chuck, everything always works out.

All of that to say that this was one of my favorite episodes. Thought the Devin/Ellie & Alex/Morgan story was perfect and for the first time ever, seeing the evolution of Sarah and the near-ending family scene where her mom sees how she turned out, actually made me a little emotional. I thought it was great.

By: GLT13

12.31.2011 @ 5:46 AM

Hahahaha loved the episode, but just like you, was instantly like “Sooo… Anyone want to tell Sarah her partner is dead?” Still, I was laughing/smiling too much to care.

By: GLT13

12.31.2011 @ 5:48 AM

Hahahahaha Loved the episode, but just like you, was instantly like “Soooo… Anyone want to tell Sarah her partner is dead?” But had laughed and smiled too much by that point to care.

By: Exit8A

12.31.2011 @ 6:22 AM

Um, did anyone else notice the caller id on Sarah’s mother’s cell phone said “Sarah”? If Sarah had already read her mother in, she would probably tell her the name she is currently using (although that might be a stretch). I was really hoping that they would reveal her full name on this episode, though.

Also, has this show really forgotten Bryce Larkin? It just really seems like this show is throwing continuity out the window in favor of ending this show with a bang.

Once again, this shows how underrated Strahovski really is as an actress, and how Fedak and Schwartz hit the lottery by signing this unknown Aussie for this show, you would never think Strahovski is Australian if you only knew her from this show. Personally, I hope Bays and Thomas hire her as The Mother.

Finally, loved Tim DeKay’s appearance on this show, although I was hoping for a Matthew Bomer cameo as the afformentioned Bryce. Hmm, put Levi, Strahovski or Baldwin as a recurring guest on White Collar, doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

By: Lev

12.31.2011 @ 6:51 AM

The producers should just be grateful that the cast is so great across the board – they cover for so many of the clunkier spy/story elements that the producers screw up.

And personally, Strahovski just needs to be a movie star all-ready – she’s way to good to be the mother. I will miss seeing her so often on TV though.

By: Scott Rosenberg

01.02.2012 @ 7:47 PM

She was born Sam, used various pseudonyms, the last of which was Jenny Burton, through her youth, then was given the name Sarah Walker when Graham first recruited her (final scene of CV the Cougars). She would have been going by that name for 5 or 6 years prior to dropping Molly on Mom

By: Miguel

12.31.2011 @ 6:33 AM

Forget the Bartowski curse, the real curse is on Sarah, whose every CIA contact eventually goes rogue.

By: Miguel

12.31.2011 @ 6:33 AM

Forget the Bartowski curse; the real curse is on Sarah, whose every CIA contact goes rogue.

By: gco211

12.31.2011 @ 7:26 AM

Great job by Jenkins and LeFranc to continue turning out high quality episodes with great allusions to past Chuck episodes, despite not being on the show at the beginning. Here, the most brilliant part is the reveal that Sarah did not coin “Don’t freak out,” the phrase she used on Chuck in the pilot and has since been used by just about every character, including Chuck to both Awesome and Morgan when they learned he is a spy. Turns out, Sarah’s mom told her that phrase!

By: troopermsu

12.31.2011 @ 7:37 AM

Chuck’s expression with that little grin at the end while carving on the trim had to be very similar to the look that Fedak and Co. must have had each time NBC ordered more episodes. Kind of, “This is really happening and I can’t believe how lucky I am.”

By: gco211

12.31.2011 @ 8:14 AM

Also, Dawn was the name of Molly’s stuffed animal. Any chance that’s a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where a sister was also suddenly introduced to the series, or just a weird coincidence, or a funny Zachary Levi ad-lib.

By: klg19

12.31.2011 @ 1:21 PM

Rex was the name of Molly’s stuffed animal. And then Sarah responded with the news that she had a toy dog named Bunny.

By: Tim

12.31.2011 @ 11:51 AM

at the last scene when sarah was given the file about chuck, what was that grey looking box kinda thing? does it have something to do with the next episodes?

By: blingbling

12.31.2011 @ 1:39 PM

The first thing that popped into my mind was the hard drive that Bryce used to transmit the Intersect to Chuck through his computer. But that doesn’t make sense, because at that point Bryce had already done the transmission and that gizmo was destroyed. So you may be on to something.

Just once again, I’d like to say how mean either Warner Brothers or NBC are being not letting us review episodes online this season.

By: Siemon

12.31.2011 @ 4:33 PM

This was the device Bryce used. It was damaged and if you remember Casey brought the damaged device to Graham, before we met Sarah.

By: blingbling

12.31.2011 @ 9:17 PM

Forgot about that!

By: Andre

12.31.2011 @ 12:42 PM

I had much higher expectations for the ‘mother’ episode. I find this quite disappointing, as it barely reveals anything new about Sarah. Maybe the first episode with Jack Burton set the bar too high

By: blingbling

12.31.2011 @ 1:44 PM

Actually, I think Cheryl Ladd and Strahovski had great chemistry throughout the ep. The writers came up with an understandable reason why Sarah couldn’t connect with her or mention her to Chuck, so it was relatively plot-hole free. Believe me, because of the horrible way it was handled (no evidence of a funeral and a widow who’s never expressed realistic grief for him), they still have me wondering if Steve Bartowski is still alive.

At least Sarah’s family situation seems clear to me now.

By: maven 66

12.31.2011 @ 1:48 PM

I can’t believe that a season that started so unpromisingly has gotten this good. I’ve always wanted to see Graham’s loose cannon Agent Walker in action. But the way they introduce new characters and connect them to events in the first season is pure genius. Sarah’s decision to protect the baby Molly helps her transition to the kind of person who could connect with Chuck.

After this episode I’m starting to think that the Chuck finale will be one of the best in TV history easily eclipsing the last episodes of heavyweights like the Sopranos and Lost.

By: the old proofreader

12.31.2011 @ 1:57 PM

“these two most recent episodes suggest that cold be a lot of fun.” You sure you want to point out Chuck typos?

By: Liz

12.31.2011 @ 4:11 PM

The scene with Awesome and Ellie role-playing made me laugh right out loud. Had to rewind a bit so I could hear what I’d missed!

There were some definite plot holes with this one, I agree, but then the ending had me smiling AND sniffling, so as usual I forgave the inconsistencies.

Tim DeKay did a nice job.

I am going to miss this show when it’s gone. So much fun.

By: aloysius

12.31.2011 @ 5:12 PM

I enjoyed the episode overall, but the last scene bothered me. Romantic gestures should not involve damaging other people’s property.

By: Blake

12.31.2011 @ 5:30 PM

A very good episode, much better than last week, because it almost hung together. I’ll overlook the 5-year-old “baby crying” bit. But that ending — I was sure Sarah was going to reveal she had already made a down payment. And maybe she has.

Alan is right that many of these episodes feel like series finales, none more than this. I don’t know where the show goes from here.

It is interesting that they’ve now gone several weeks not only without an Intersect, but barely mentioning it. Is that the goal of this season? I’m sure I’m not the only one who expects Chuck to get it back at some point. Will that be the finale? Or maybe Chuck has to choose to take it or not, and he chooses not?

By: consideract

12.31.2011 @ 9:28 PM

I’m with you about the baby gimmick. It read like a cute writing moment, to bookend the whole thing (he pulls the same trick on her).

With the typo, though, that was clearly a spy thing, the typo was *clearly* manually input by Sarah to prove it was actually her. Not really. ;-}

By: Don

12.31.2011 @ 10:36 PM

If Ryker had no idea where in the world the baby was, it seems kind of convenient that he would happen to be a short driving distance away from Sarah’s mother’s house when he found out. Also, how did he know Sarah’s real identity and where her mother lived?
If it was easy to find out who Sarah’s mother was, you think he might have checked out that avenue at some point in the past five years, if only to take the mother hostage to force Sarah to give up the location of the baby.
But I guess it doesn’t really make sense to get overly logical.

By: Anna

01.01.2012 @ 7:57 AM

I also enjoyed the reappearance of A Question and an Answer for the very ‘Charah’ moment at the end. I feel like we haven’t heard it in a while.

By: SpyTV

01.02.2012 @ 4:56 AM

This is my favorite episode of the season so far.

Regarding some of the mentioned “plot holes”, and I’m just playing Devil’s advocate here, just because she was on a mission with Bryce, how can you conclude that she didn’t have a handler at that time…or that Ryker wasn’t behind the scenes on that mission? I think that’s open to interpretation. I think the last scene, where she is assigned to be Chuck’s handler is probably a plot hole. At that point, her mission was just to retrieve the intersect (and no one knew Chuck had downloaded it at that point). However, I liked way too much about the episode as a whole to let nitpicks like that diminish my enjoyment.

Also, for the record, “receiving” was correctly spelled in the episode. Either that, or my DVR has an autocorrect feature of which I was unaware.

Nice review.

By: Scott Rosenberg

01.02.2012 @ 6:35 PM

Incredibly good episode, on both kick-ass and feel-good planes, but you rightly point out the relative abundance of plot holes and unintentional retconning. More broadly than those concrete examples, it seemed a little late in the game to give Sarah a teachable moment about trust. We’ve seen Sarah learn this lesson both generally and concretely over the years, and while it was certainly plausible for handler to view Sarah as a perpetual loner, I strain to imagine that she wouldn’t feel comfortable telling Chuck what had happened at this point, without even pointing out that surely spies must learn to trust their partners implicitly, because, as proved here, their lives can depend on it.

It felt to me like the writers started with the theme and just made the mistake of keeping it too general, too simplistic. There could have been a more nuanced, developed emotional arc for Sarah and her past, where she does tell Chuck and Casey up front but struggles with the implications. Strahovsky has the acting chops to pull it off, and, given the hot streak the writers have been on with three of the past four episodes, so could they. It’s hard to really feel badly, though, when the episode just feels that damn satisfying.

By: Scott Rosenberg

01.02.2012 @ 6:39 PM

Also, great guest casting, with Cheryl Ladd and especially Tim DeKay

By: Ken

01.08.2012 @ 2:16 AM

OK I know this is late (I’m just catching up on DVR on my Chuck episodes) and kind of geeky and obscure but did anybody notice that they threw a “Wilhelm Scream” ([www.youtube.com]) in the scene where one of the bad guys gets pushed down the stairs? I love those geeky shoutouts the show does.